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The good news: There are more women in chess than ever before.
The bad news: They’re being noticed because of the way they look, not the way they play.The New York Times reports on women in competitive chess who are showing off more than their brain power to get noticed in the traditionally male-dominated field.

Vanessa Reid, a 16-year-old student from Sydney, Australia, runs cross-country, plays touch football, enjoys in-line skating, swims and goes bodyboarding. She also has a cerebral side: she plays competitive chess. She represented Australia at a tournament in Malaysia in 2002 and played in a tournament in New Zealand this year.
While Ms. Reid is clearly no novice at the game, she isn’t ...

The good news: There are more women in chess than ever before.
The bad news: They’re being noticed because of the way they look, not the way they play.The New York Times reports ...

Teen People nixed a story about Hitler-loving teenybopper twins Prussian Blue – amid outrage that the glossy had promised to avoid the words “hate,” “supremacist” and “Nazi” in its piece on the racist singing sisters.
A Web-based teaser for the February story originally called the hatemongering duo “aspiring musicians” and compared them to wide-eyed sensations Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.

Cause I’m sure the Olsens sit around playing a video game called “Ethnic Cleansing” and calling people who aren’t white “muds.”Via Broadsheet.

Recently appointed Chief Justice John Roberts will face his first major abortion case on the Supreme Court when Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood comes up before the court next week.

The case stems from a 2003 New Hampshire law requiring teenagers to tell a parent before getting an abortion. While the law has an exception for girls who would die without the procedure, New Hampshire lawmakers omitted an exception for other non-life-threatening health problems because they felt it would render the law meaningless.
The new law has never been enforced, because two federal courts have said the lack of a health exception made it unconstitutional.
…New Hampshire’s version would make it a crime for a doctor to perform an abortion ...

Recently appointed Chief Justice John Roberts will face his first major abortion case on the Supreme Court when Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood comes up before the court next week.

Saudi women voted this weekend on a new board of directors for the Jiddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Women were also included on the list of candidates.

There are an estimated 2,800 businesses registered in women’s names at the chamber, but it was unclear how many of them would be eligible to vote. By Sunday evening, only about 50 women had turned up to vote, said Fatin Boundagji, director of Khadija Bint Khuwielid Women’s Empowerment unit at the Jiddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Turnout among men is expected to be stronger, but is still uncertain.
The election has been billed as a major step forward for women in Saudi Arabia, especially after women were barred from ...

Saudi women voted this weekend on a new board of directors for the Jiddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Women were also included on the list of candidates.

Great news. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has been elected president in Liberia, making her the first female president in Africa.

The election commission confirmed the tally on Wednesday — officially naming her Liberia’s president-in-waiting and first woman to ever win an election to be an African president. Her inauguration is scheduled for January.
Ms. Johnson-Sirleaf has served as her country’s finance minister and taken on top jobs at Citibank and the United Nations. She is a widowed mother-of-four who also has eight grandchildren.

Thanks to Chris for the link.

Great news. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has been elected president in Liberia, making her the first female president in Africa.

The election commission confirmed the tally on Wednesday — officially naming her Liberia’s president-in-waiting and first woman ...

An anti-abortion group has renewed its effort to fly pictures of aborted fetuses over crowded Oahu beaches.
An attorney for the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform has told federal appeals court judges that Honolulu’s ban on aerial advertising illegally censors the group’s most effective way to advocate its message.
Robert Muise says the explicit images can’t be replaced by other forms of advertisement.
The group already drives trucks around town with giant photos of first-term aborted fetuses.

All of a sudden, Hawaii doesn’t seem like such a great vacation spot. Ugh.

An anti-abortion group has renewed its effort to fly pictures of aborted fetuses over crowded Oahu beaches.
An attorney for the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform has told federal appeals court judges that Honolulu’s ban on ...

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association says that breastfeeding could lower women’s risk of diabetes by 15 percent each year she nurses.

The findings add to a growing list of benefits from nursing for both mother and child, including less risk of cancer and osteoporosis for women and fewer ear infections for the newborn. Researchers said the benefit may result from the 500 calories a day burned in nursing. That helps lower blood sugar levels and makes nursing mothers more sensitive to insulin, the opposite of what is seen in diabetics, past studies have shown.
“Supporting breast feeding is not just an important issue for babies. It’s a woman’s health issue,” said lead ...

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association says that breastfeeding could lower women’s risk of diabetes by 15 percent each year she nurses.